Billy Graham Center

Archives

Interviews of Joel Martínez Hernandez- Collection 522

[Note: What follows is a description of the documents in this collection which
are available for use at BGC Archives in Wheaton, Illinois, USA. The actual
documents are not, in most cases, available online, only this description of
them. Nor are they available for sale or rent. Some or all of this collection
can be borrowed through interlibrary
loan]

Lists of Audio Tapes in This Collection (Location Records)

Brief
Description. Oral history interviews in which Martínez discusses: his early childhood in Jaruco, Cuba; conversion to Christianity; being son of missionaries; bi-culturalism; Toccoa Falls boarding school and college; effect of service in the United States Navy on spiritual development; reasons for not being TEAM missionary; missionary work in Barcelona and then Madrid, Spain with Christian & Missionary Alliance; traditional church models versus cell-group based models; education at Wheaton College Graduate school; importance of holistic living as missionaries; reaching families in Spain; ministering with and through his own family

Biography

Full
name

Joel Martínez Hernandez (Cuba de Morales)

Birth

May 25, 1949 in Pinar del Rio, Cuba.

Family

Marital Status

Married Nancy; 1973

Children

Sonya; David; Jonathan; Mark

Conversion

1954, Age 5: received Jesus Christ through the witness of his parents in Jaruco, Cuba

Ordination

1984,
ordained as a Baptist minister

Education

1962-1968

Toccoa Falls (high school), Toccoa Falls, Georgia

1968-1970

Toccoa Falls College, Toccoa Falls, Georgia

1973-1977

Columbia Bible College, Columbia, South Carolina

1977

Graduate School at Columbia Bible College

1994-1996

Wheaton College Graduate School, Wheaton, Illinois. Graduated with a Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies

Career

1970-1974

United States Navy, San Francisco, CA and Pensacola, FL

1978-1990

Joined Christian and Missionary Alliance, sent to Barcelona, Spain

1991-2002

Church planting with Christian and Missionary Alliance, Madrid, Spain

2002- present

Cell church planting and started The Sunflower Center for counseling, Granada, Spain

Scope
and Content

Joel Martínez Hernandez was interviewed by Paul Ericksen on August 4, 1995, at the office of the BGC Archives. The events described in the interview cover the time period 1949-1995.

T1 (74 minutes). Earliest memories as a child in Cuba; conversion with mother at age 5 in church; Catholicism in Cuba; the Free Baptist church; father’s conversion; American missionaries in Cuba; moving to Miami; father’s work with Cuban refugees; brief stint at Free Baptist Home Missions headquarters, Nashville; parents moving to New York City to work with New York Bible Society; parents sending to Toccoa Falls (boarding school); immigrant childhood and its effects; Miami and Cuban immigrants; experience in a ministry family; dedicating his life to God for full-time service at a Christian camp; going to a Miami Billy Graham crusade; meeting Cliff Barrows as a highlight of his spiritual journey; difficulty in teenage years ; Toccoa Falls at beginning of 7th grade year; importance of understanding himself as a bi-cultural kid; developing sense of self apart from being Cuban or American; heart for bi-cultural kids especially in ministry families; middle and high school at Toccoa Falls boarding school; memories of Dr. Julian Bandy, president of Toccoa Falls College; learning about southern culture; discrimination from first girlfriend’s family; blessing of Toccoa Falls through gaining life long friends; meeting other missionary kids and bi-cultural kids at Toccoa Falls; benefits of looking back on his life now and learning about God’s direction in it; joining the Navy after his sophomore year of college to run away from problems

T2 (76 minutes). Rejection from Air Force; four year commitment to US Navy; Religious Petty Officer; working in a San Francisco Veterans hospital; Neuropsych Technical School; Naval Aerospace Medical Institute, Pensacola, FL; meeting Nancy at a James Robinson Crusade, Pensacola; marriage; working in Psychology department; getting degree in Education from Columbia Bible College; joining TEAM through guidance of Michael Pocock, planning to go to Madrid as missionary; not fitting in with TEAM; his Dad recommending Christian Missionary Alliance; speaking with Dr. LL Keene about going to Spain; remembering Dr. William Cornfield of Columbia as an influence to missions; discrimination; arriving in Barcelona; trying various evangelism techniques; duplicating the Lima model of a big, visual church effecting the neighborhood; language school to learn Castilian Spanish and Catalan; recounting first people led to Christ; showing Billy Graham movie “Time to Run” to neighborhood youth; offering family counseling to community; living holistically as most effective evangelism; correcting unproductive strategies; moving to Madrid as a Pastor; working with middle management class; implementing the organic cell-group model as opposed to traditional church model; working with the new C&MA director of Spain; experiencing effects of the Catholic church in Spain; learning the Spanish culture; Gypsy church movement

T3 (29 minutes). Economic growth in Spain and its effects; heterogeneous vs homogeneous cell groups; believing United States needs multi-ethnic worship services; growing Hispanic population in the United States; discussing future goals in Spain; raising bi-cultural children; thoughts about Wheaton College revival; remembering Toccoa Falls revivals; being older person in College classes; calling to train youth; seeing his family as essential to the ministry; effects of ministering to Spain through family mentoring; cultivating deep friendships in Spain; importance of children present in the life of the church; effectiveness as holistic missionaries

Provenance

The materials in this collection were given to the Archives of the Billy Graham Center by Mr. Martinez in 1995.

Accession: 95-119
June 6, 2008
Noel Collins

LOCATION
RECORDAccession:
95-119Type
of Material: Audio TapesThe following items
are located in the AUDIO TAPE file.

Item# - Reel or cassette,
speed, length, number of sides, contents (title of session, participants) according
to the program, date.